Four years after his career began, theatre teacher Caleb Francis achieved his goal for his theater productions class to perform competitively. 

Since his first teaching job in Missouri, Francis has been exposed to the world of competitive theater.

He gained an interest towards the activity but was never able to pull through with the idea due to a lack of experience.

“When I taught in the state of Missouri, competition theater was really, really big there,” Francis said. “And I never got my hands into that just because I was learning the ropes of how to manage a classroom and a performing arts department.”

Even though the productions class itself has existed at SHS for some years now, Francis decided to redefine it during the 2024-2025 school year as an onstage competitive program, impacting the students involved.

He gained confidence in his decision knowing that he now has a few years of teaching behind him and an advanced group of students to work with. 

“I think it really was (that) I had a good group of kids to do it with,” Francis said. “Plus, it was something that I have always been interested in doing.”

Their play this year is titled “100 Things I Never Said to You” and follows a group of students at a school assembly.

Together they reminisce in their memories with their recently deceased classmate while exploring heavier topics like suicide prevention.

Picking the show for this year proved to be a difficult task as Francis had to search for a script that not only complimented the size of his class but also one that he knew would perform well with the judges.

“Something that works really well at competition is more dramatic pieces, and that comes along with more heavier topics … ,” Francis said. “And even though I had a smaller group of kids, it was extremely hard to find a show for 11 of them.”

The class spent months of class time practicing and memorizing their script to prepare for their regional performance.

While there were some nerves building throughout the crew, the students knew they could rely on the skill of others during the performance.

“I was nervous at first, because there were some other schools that were pretty good,” senior Devin Speaks said. “But I knew we would do pretty good because we have good actors in the department.”

The class placed second at their regional performance on Dec. 7, granting them the opportunity to move to state finals on Jan. 25, where they placed 10th.

Being given the chance to advance and move forward thus far is a positive step for the program’s future years as incoming students can see how far that the production class has made it in their inaugural season.

“It’s great to start, like ‘Hey, the very first year we actually got to go to state,’ so it was great,” Francis said. “I think it’ll help the kids in the class that I have next year as a good motivator.”

Competitive theater gives a more serious experience for its students as to how a production can run, which deepens the connection between students and the stage, drawing them closer to the program.

“Making state for the first time makes everything seem more real, (and) that we can actually make something out of the program,” Speaks said.

Acting out a play in front of a new audience has presented its own individual benefits to the students, who gain a better understanding of what it’s like to perform in a different environment.

“It’s impacted me a lot,” sophomore Piper Leber said. “Because normally, I’m just ready for more productions for my friends and family, but this time it’s just for other schools, and I get to do it for a ton of brand new people.”

With the judges’ critiques at their disposal, they could now see what they needed to improve upon in order to further boost their score for their next performance.

While comments were left to a minimum, there were minor notes left on how they need to work on various stage qualities.

“We got good scores from the judges (and) we made it to state,” junior Alex Callaway said. “It went well … most of our comments were just small, nitpicky things, so nothing seriously wrong.”

The theater productions class has already shown a positive switch in dynamic for the young actors in Francis’s room.

The competitive nature has brought inspiration for the students who want to continue to improve in their future and stick with theater in future years. 

“It’s made me want to do it more, and it’s made me want to continue with the class,” Leber said. “(It was) definitely because it was a fun experience.”